


Prom Fiasco

by erintaper



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: F/F, Female Peter Parker, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-17 01:22:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28840836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/erintaper/pseuds/erintaper
Summary: The venue for Penny Parker's prom is cancelled and she's devastated. She just wants to ask her crush out, take photos of their last dance in high school and enjoy time with her friends. Luckily for her Tony and Pepper have a few things planned out to make sure she gets the best prom experience.
Relationships: Happy Hogan/May Parker (Spider-Man), May Parker (Spider-Man) & Peter Parker, Michelle Jones/Peter Parker, Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Pepper Potts, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 4
Kudos: 44





	1. Chapter 1

“Uh-oh someone’s had a bad day,” Tony remarked as he watched the teenager storm into the laboratory. Penny Parker threw her backpack onto her desk, slumped in her chair, put her hands to her face and let out a muffled screamed. Not a blood curdling scream, but one to really get the point across that today was not a good day.

“Are you going to explain what happened? Or leave me in the dark?”

Penny took a few more seconds to let all the bottled up anger out.

“They prom venue got CANCELLED,” she yelled finally and slammed her head on the table for the added dramatic effect.

“Well it’s just the venue. Are they still hosting prom?”

“Yes but Mr Stark it’s going to be in the school gym instead. Can you wrap your head around that. The gym that smells like sweat and axe deodorant is going to be the PROM VENUE”

“What’s wrong with axe body spray?”

“Just the sheer amount half the teenage boy population uses. You’d think one spritz for each arm would be enough but noooo they basically bathe in that stuff. You can smell them from a mile away”

“Penny I think that’s just your elevated senses”

“No Mr Stark it’s an established well renowned fact of high school life," she slumped even lower in her seat, "Man I had all these photos planned and where we were going to eat for dinner but now it’s all ruined“

Tony knew Penny had been looking forward to this dance for weeks. She and her best friend Ned spent hours talking about who got asked out and all the drama associated with high school dances. Usually Midtown rented out the Harbor Club that was perched right along East River by the Queensborough bridge. Just the setting itself was made for beautiful pictures. Tony wouldn't be surprised if somebody had bought out the venue with a larger sum of cash for just that reason.

“Have you even asked MJ out yet?”

“Shut UP,” Penny yelled and clasped her hands over her ears. She turned a bright crimson and Tony loved to remind her of her crush every waking moment of the day.

“I mean even with the venue change it’s only a few weeks away-“

“SHUT-“

“Pepper and I were actually talking about it. You could do an Iron Man themed promposal with red and gold roses and then the entire thing lights ablaze with fireworks if she says yes”

“Mr Stark DO YOU WANT ME TO GET EXPELLED”

“But would it win her heart?”

“I think MJ is a little more subtle than that Mr Stark. And why Iron Man, why not Spider-Woman?”

“Because we all know who the cooler superhero is”

Penny chucked an eraser at Mr Stark’s head who ducked without even looking up from his work. He was a seasoned “dodge Penny’s projectiles” expert by now.

“But what if she rejects me?”

“Then go out with Ned as friends”

“I told you this before, he’s going out with Betty”

“Hmm ... How about that Flash kid”

"Mr Stark he bullies me. Or at least tries to. He's not very good at it"

"Exactly, it could make a great enemies to lovers trope. I know you're into those"

"Seriously how much of my search history do you monitor"

"Enough of it"

"Can I just take Morgan. She'd probably have an absolute blast"

"No my daughter is staying pure and innocent for as long as I can help it. I know what you teenagers do on those dance floors. Definitely not PG-rated"

"You're saying that as if you haven't done it before yourself"

Now it was Tony's turn to chuck something at Penny's head, but with her super senses she caught the pad of sticky notes perfectly without even glancing over her shoulder. She never missed.

“Okay enough sulking, get to work”

“Fine. Can I just not do coding today. I might go out of my mind if I have to look at a single line of code”

“Sure. How does welding sound?”

“Incredibly dangerous and exactly what I need”

Once 6pm arrived, Penny was scrambling to get her things packed and meet Happy in the lobby.

"Is there anyway I can stay the night"

"If you really want to. But isn't Happy going over for dinner?"

"Yes, which is precisely why I want to stay the night"

"I thought you liked having Happy over"

"I do, but he's staying the night and our walls are really thin Mr Stark. I can hear all the freaky deaky happening in HD and stereo"

"Didn't I give you sound cancelling headphones for that exact scenario"

"Yes, but they make my neck hurt when I sleep in them"

"You can deal with a stiff neck for one night. Now go on, don't leave Happy waiting any longer"

"Alright bye Mr Stark," she yelled and ran out of the room. Tony continued making adjustments to his work but he found that without the girl's presence it was far too quiet for his liking. So he chucked his soldering iron back in its holder and powered off everything in the shop. He might as well treat his wife to an early arrival home.

* * *

“Did you tell her the school could use our ballroom?” Pepper said as she flipped through her magazine. The two of them had just finished convincing Morgan to sleep and were now sprawled on the couch feeling very old and exhausted. Tony was recounting all the dilemmas Penny was having and his wife loved to hear about it all.

But this was news to Tony.

“We have a ballroom?”

“Yes I asked for several to be built when we constructed the tower”

“This entire time we’ve had a ballroom in SI?”

“Yes have you ever been to floor 4?”

“No I haven’t ...”

Pepper rolled her eyes. She reached for her phone and began typing furiously.

“What are you doing?”

“Contacting the marketing and events team”

“Why?”

“To make our ballroom available in April”

Tony leaned back into the couch watching Pepper work away. Yeah his wife is pretty fucking amazing.

* * *

Penny was in homeroom watching the student weekly "news" segment. In short, it was terrible. The greenscreen they used barely worked and the topics they covered made everyone cringe. Looking over her shoulder Penny rolled her eyes when she was Ned absolutely captivated by the image of Betty Bryant leading the segment about midterms happening next week.

Looking around the room she caught the eye of MJ, who tilted her head at Ned and made a face. Penny snorted which made everyone in the class look at her in annoyance and she buried her face in her sweater.

"- and now for our last announcement we have exciting news for our seniors," everyone in the class perked up at this, "Stark Industries has stepped forward and offered to let Midtown use their private spaces for the senior prom"

The entire class exploded with hollering and screams. Penny could feel Ned shaking her soul from her body out of excitement.

"Dude?!! What did you do," Ned squealed and Penny honestly didn't know.

"I have seriously have no idea man"

"Did you tell Mr Stark?"

"I mean I kinda complained about it last Friday. But he never mentioned anything about using SI venues"

"Well I'm sure if must've been him. Just text and ask"

Penny pulled her phone out and saw a notification already on her screen.

"I don't think I even have to," she said and showed Ned the text.

Tony: Enjoy the present. Courtesy of Pepper.

"Dude that's so epic," he said.


	2. Chapter 2

Penny was insanely nervous. She'd rehearsed this moment at least a dozen times to each family member. Aunt May had stayed up late into the night helping her calm her nerves with a terrible baking session. Were the cookies practically inedible in the end? Absolutely. Did that stop them from consuming them all along with half a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips? Absolutely not.

Pepper helped her buy a bouquet of black dahlias which were MJ's favorite flower. She'd tried her hardest to convince Penny to include red flowers to offset the black, but the girl was adamant it was only black. During lab hours Tony helped Penny design and build a necklace that could mechanically retract to simulate a flower blooming. It was also in the shape of a black dahlia.

Penny was stashing a paper bag with the items into her locker when her spidey senses tingled. She whipped around and saw MJ leaning next to her and Penny slammed the locker shut.

MJ arched her eyebrow, "That was a bit aggressive"

"Sorry you just uh - scared me?" Penny offered and MJ shrugged.

"Whatever you say. Just wanted to let you know there's an Aca-Deca meeting during lunch in the library. Mr Harrington called it for some reason. I guess he has something important he wants to talk about"

"Yeah that's cool. I guess - I'll just - see you there," Penny said trying to act cool. In actuality she was the one who asked Mr Harrington to call a meeting so she could ask MJ out to prom. The other Aca-Deca students knew not to attend, but pretend they would.

"Cool. See you around Parker," MJ said with a smile and she walked off to her next class. Once she was out of sight Penny let herself slide to the ground and sit there. Her heart was still racing. That was close.

In the rest of her classes Penny couldn't pay attention to what the teachers were saying and as the clock ticked closer and closer to noon she grew more and more anxious. During the last 10 minutes of class she excused herself, saying she "didn't feel good" and took her backpack with her. Right before she left the room Ned flashed her a thumbs up for support.

* * *

Penny anxiously tapper her foot on the tile flooring and held the bouquet of flowers in her hands. The bell had rung only minutes before so MJ should be coming soon. She was busy staring outside the glass window in the hallway to see if she could find MJ that she didn't realize someone had joined the room.

"Hey Penny, what have you got there?"

Penny jumped and immediately turned around, hiding the bouquet behind her back. MJ stared at her cautiously.

"You good?"

"Yeah, me? I'm good, just fine," Penny gasped out and couldn't seem to figure out what to ask next.

"Well-"

"Hey- Oh gosh I interrupted"

"It's fine, what were you going to say?"

"Well I - I just ... how do I say this ... well you've been a really good friend MJ - like very good and I ... I just ... mm ... oh fuck it," Penny revealed the bouquet of flowers from behind her back, "Will you go to prom with me?"

MJ stared in shock and Penny felt her heart sink as each second ticked by without a response.

"Yes"

Penny blinked, "What?"

"Yes! I'd like to go to prom with you"

"Really?"

"Yeah really," MJ said with a smile. Penny broke out into the biggest smile as her anxiety dispelled. MJ closed the distance between them and took the flowers into her hands.

"These are my favorite flowers," she said softly as she let her hands caress the soft petals. She saw a small black velvet box sitting in the middle of the bouquet and opened it, "What is this? A necklace?"

"Yeah it is. C-can I put this on you?" Penny asked and MJ nodded. She unclasped the necklace and put it over her neck and as soon as the metal pendant fell on her collarbone it retracted and bloomed into a beautiful black dahlia. MJ's mouth opened in awe as she watched it.

"This is awesome, did you make it?"

"Yeah, I designed it but Mr Stark helped me build it. I don't really know how nanotech works"

"Wow thanks Penny. Can I give you a hug?"

"Y-yeah!"

And so the two hugged and Penny felt a few tears spring from her eyes. Their moment was short-lived because outside the glass windows of the library a loud cheering could be heard. The two girls turned and saw the entire Aca-Deca team jumping up and down in celebration and hollering. So much for privacy, but it made the moment feel even more real to Penny.

* * *

Tony and Pepper were in the middle of an investor's meeting when both of their phones rang at the same time. They each opened their phones instantly to read the text message.

Penny: She said yes!

Tony looked up and locked eyes with his wife. They tried to hide the tears back in their eyes, but they both knew they were failing terribly. They were so proud and happy for their girl.


	3. Chapter 3

"Let me see the back," Pepper commanded and Penny quickly spun around with the long black gown flowing around her ankles.

"Definitely not, the lace is too old fashion," May said waving her hand over the back of the dress.

"I agree. Andre, get something a little more youthful please," she said and the man ran off to go grab a new selection of gowns. Penny took the moment to sit in the chair right outside the changing room and let her head fall back on the wall. There was a reason why she wore the same jeans and jacket ever day. Shopping was so tiring and she could feel a headache beginning to emerge. 

"How much longer is this going to go on for," Penny whined and Pepper shook her head.

"As long as it needs to. Honestly if I knew it would take this long I would've scheduled an appointment with my tailor. She makes wonderful pieces"

Penny crossed her arms and slumped into the seat. No way she could've accepted a custom made dress. Even this was way over the top. They were in a boutique in Soho that was definitely way out of May's budget but Pepper was adamant they go here.

Penny already had a few options set aside. There was a pretty green dress that matched her hair and a black one that was quite elegant. But at the same time none of the options really screamed her name and the two adult women could tell. Penny just wanted the whole fiasco to end. 

"Can I offer you a pick me up?" a male voice said next to her and Penny turned her head to a paper bag in front of her face.

"Mr Stark! What are these?" she grabbed the bag from his hands and could smell something sweet and warm. 

"Donuts!" Morgan squealed and scrambled to climb onto Penny's lap. 

"Easy Morgan!" Pepper exclaimed and grabbed her before she could get a shoe print on the expensive dress. Penny popped one of the cinnamon-sugar coated donut holes in her mouth, feeling her energy coming back to her, and watched all the adults get drinks. 

"No coffee for me?" Penny said with a pout and Tony choked on his drink. 

"Absolutely not. I'm never making that mistake again," he muttered and May laughed out loud. Mr Stark had let her try a pumpkin spice latte one Halloween thinking it'd be a good introduction into adulthood, but it'd just made Penny a very hyper mess. And when she finally crashed from the caffeine high she was asleep for almost a full day. Again, not his smartest move.

"How about these miss?" Andre said coming back with a new selection of dresses. May and Pepper immediately jumped on the man looking at the different dresses with renewed, caffeinated fervor, leaving Tony and Morgan to watch.

"Dad can we go pick a dress for Penny?" Morgan asked tugging at her dad's pant leg and he shrugged.

"Sure. Lead the way Morguna," he said and they went to the racks and displays of dresses. 

He perched Morgan in his arms so she could flip through the racks and look at the selection. But after a few minutes she got tired and let her dad do the work while she watched. 

"What do you think of this?" 

He pulled out a red dress covered in white sequins and Morgan wrinkled her nose.

"It's too red"

"Too red? But you can never have too much red" 

"Yes you can," she retorted and Tony let out a long, dramatic sigh of defeat. 

"Okay. You win"

They continued this banter for a while and he tried to teach her new colors at the same time. Morgan liked the word lavender, but struggled to say periwinkle. 

"Can I see that dress?" she said, pointing at a dress that was nested deep inside a rack practically hidden from view. He pulled it out and had to admit it looked very promising.

"What's the consensus Morgan?"

"I like it!"

"Yeah? Okay lets take it back"

They arrived back to see Penny twirling around in a pink dress that hung off the shoulder. Pretty, but not quite Penny. 

"Penny try this!" Morgan exclaimed and Tony handed her the dress. She went back into the changing room and the adults sat and waited for her to put on the dress. 

"Ya know, I kinda like this," Penny shouted from the other side and everyone perked up.

"Well don't leave us waiting, come out!" May called back. A bit of shuffling could be heard and the door swung open. Penny walked out in a beautiful midnight blue dress with gold thread woven into the fabric that softly pillowed out and swept around her ankles. It glimmered in the ambient light and despite its simplistic cut, the uniqueness of the textile spoke of the dress's quality. 

"Turn around," May directed and Penny did so, "Now what do you think of the dress?"

Penny looked at herself in the mirror and swept the dress to and fro. She loved the way it moved and how it made her feel. It was halfway between mystical and enchanting, something she wasn't quite used to. 

With a large grin she said, "I love it" 

\---

"Do you want to come to my place on Saturday before the dance?" Penny asked MJ at lunch, "Betty and Ned are coming over and we're all getting ready together" 

"Sure," MJ said nonchalantly, "What time should I get there?"

"Betty is coming at 10 and Ned at 2 but you can come whenever. Just come before 5 because that's when Happy is driving us over"

"I'll come at 10 then"

Penny pumped her fist in the air and unlocked her phone to text May about the additional guest. 

"Do you want me to do your nails on Saturday?" MJ asked and Penny looked up excitedly. 

"Yes! I'm so bad at it, you'll have to show me how" 

"It's not that hard. I can do a design too if you want"

"Omg can you do a Star Wars design?" 

"I'll see what I can do," MJ said with a smirk.


End file.
